Florida International University's Minority Biomedical Research Support Program strives to continue facilitating faculty and student biomedical research by providing funds to: 1) enable minority students to become active participants, 2) augment University equipment purchases so that research efforts are not diluted by dependency on out-dated instruments but can occur on up-to-date instrumentation, 3) support on-going University biomedical seminars and Distinguished Lecturers, and 4) increase the time MBRS faculty can devote to research. Further, the MBRS program has and will continue to foster a climate of interdisciplinary research collaboration as well as encouraging MBRS faculty to obtain additional, independent research support. This program subprojects include principal investigators (and associate investigators) from three of the University's colleges and six departments. Collaboration among MBRS faculty and students not only stimulates intellectual interchange but also facilitates resource sharing. The projects contained herein represent the very latest in a spectrum of biomedical research: anatomical-physiological, biochemical, immunological, molecular biological, and developmental research, novel method development and computer imaging.